Trials, p.9
Trials, page 9
“Honestly tell me that a skilled tier-7 earth mage couldn’t counter it,” replied Xeal. “All they need to do is cut me off from my source and they will eliminate the threat of it.”
“Yes, but that is easier said than done when you have me above you. Xeal, you have put the world on notice and if you think that every nation isn’t watching this conflict and adjusting their own invasion plans accordingly, you would be mistaken.”
“Aila is correct,” commented Zylah. “They even have evidence of the results of you being there and not being there because of the synchronized assaults.”
“All it means is that you can scratch off large-scale armies being used,” quipped Xeal. “After all, all it will take is me showing up with the support I need and the battle will be over.”
“No, if I were them, I would lure you in with such an army and aim for your support,” replied King Victor. “Yes, the battle would be costly, but if I could weaken your support I would. Though that will change once you have enough of your kind to offer the same level of support.”
“That will take a fair bit of time and there is a fatal flaw to my ability that you are overlooking and was hidden in this battle. Victor, I can’t show up and win you a battle with just 1,000 spellcasters and a force designed to defend them. Doing what I did cost so much stamina that I would only last 15 minutes doing it and just the main attack that I used took a full ten percent of it.”
“That is still enough to easily kill 100,000 fodder troops and tilt the battle in our favor,” replied King Victor.
“Only if it is an army made up of solely my kind. I will not murder the populace of this world in such a manner.”
“Xeal, you will likely have to at least once,” replied Queen Aila Lorafir solemnly. “If such an army is brought forward and you participate and don’t do so, it will send a clear message that simply mixing in the people of this world in will counter you. They wouldn’t even need to fight, they would just need to be mixed in enough to tie your hands.”
“Aila’s right,” agreed King Victor. “You may permanently kill many that day, but it would also lessen the likelihood of them using such a tactic in the future.”
“Have I mentioned that I hate war?” grumbled Xeal. “Even if I know that it is inevitable in this world.”
“Only every time the topic comes up between us,” commented Queen Aila Lorafir. “If I didn’t know you as I do, I would think that you were trying to get on my good side about it. After all, no sane person wishes for war. At the same time, you recognize that without the ability and will to do just that, none can sleep in peace. Even when this continent is unified under a single nation as you dream, there will still be need of those who recognize that truth, else rebellions and foreign forces may still bring about its ruin.”
Xeal sighed at her words as he shook his head before responding.
“Reality is cruel, even in a world designed to be an escape from it for many of my kind. Now, let’s move on to the meat of the issue that we are here to deal with. Victor, are you really fine with declaring war on Abysses End and declaring that any nation that deals with them are subject to an extra tariff on all goods that they export to Nium?”
“It will result in a similar tariff being placed on us, but it will not have a significant impact on things and other nations will actually be happy to pay it. After all, most will simply pass the bill on to Abysses End with interest while publicly denouncing us. The main exceptions will be the nations where Abysses End is a major power, but even there they won’t go to war over an entity that seems to be a mercenary force at best.”
“Excellent. Then if you would please prepare your message and I will ensure my guild members that will be acting as the messengers are ready to depart within the hour.”
“Hey, Xeal, I’d like you to give me the same thing you have given your wives to ensure that I live and escape what is about to come.”
As Zylah’s words registered, Xeal looked at the tier-8 woman who was looking at him with a look of cold resignation on her face as she awaited an answer. It took Xeal a long moment to connect all of the implications of what she was saying and how it would affect his own plans as he weighed his options before responding.
“You won’t like the price of it.”
“You can collect it if I make it to the other side of this war with it still in place.”
“No, I can’t trust any contract that I would make with you. I need payment up front.”
“Fine, what did you have in mind?”
“Kill Saul Drerzen five times.”
“Who is that?”
“One of my kind.”
“You just want me to give one of your kind a death penalty five times?”
Xeal could tell that Zylah was confused as it sounded simple, but Xeal just smiled as he responded.
“Yes, I want you to kill the largest stakeholder in Abysses End five times and make sure they know I am the one that paid for it to happen. I’ll even let you borrow one of the talismans that I have that will guard your life, but not allow an escape until you have completed your task. Oh, and make sure it’s done in a very public setting.”
“Are you sure that you don’t want me to just kill five different key figures in Abysses End? It would let me get it done much quicker.”
“No, I want them to increase security, know it’s coming and still not be able to stop it. Now if he starts refusing to come out in public you can go ahead and hang his body from a wall, or something, where it can’t be missed by my kind. Just not near anywhere that kids play.”
“And what about when he just stops coming to this world?”
“He won’t and if he does, Kate will look into it and I may pick a different target from Abysses End.”
Zylah looked like she was weighing her options as she thought over Xeal’s words before she responded.
“Fine, but none of the targets can be above tier-6.”
“Alright, here is the talisman. I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts.”
With that Xeal handed over one of the copper talismans that he had made for the young noblemen that he had focused on training and the dwarven VIPs that had been transported to Nium by ship. He knew that the reason that she had required that her targets remain below tier-7, was simply due to her desire to never need to use anything that would identify her actual power when killing them. If she wanted to make it seem like it was only a tier-7 assassin carrying out the act, Xeal wasn’t about to stop her from doing so.
“Alright, now let’s get into the minutia of what we each need to do before we all get completely derailed,” commented King Victor, as he returned the conversation to its main purpose.
The following hour saw them address several possibilities and scenarios, that were all highly likely outcomes of all the moves that were being made. Still, they all knew that these scenarios were just a fraction of the possible outcomes from the way things were currently going and that the actual results were impossible to fully predict. Once more Xeal couldn’t help but sigh at the state of things, as it was likely that with the dominos that were about to fall, that half of all of ED’s nations would be at war by the year’s end. This was a full year in ED before such a state had been reached in his last life and it just added to the strain that FAE would need to manage to ensure it came out on top.
Once Xeal was finally free of the impromptu war council, he kissed Queen Aila Lorafir goodbye and made his way to his office at his guild headquarters where Kate, Taya and Lucy awaited him. From there they got to work as they focused on getting through the backlog of paperwork that was waiting for them, while also monitoring the ongoing operations. Xeal knew that he would be sent in if any area seemed about to get out of hand, but it was clear that with the other guilds’ aid, Abysses End was stuck on the defense. It had become such a one-sided struggle that many countries happily accepted denouncing and expelling Abysses End from their territory. Many of these had cited reasons that boiled down to that their insertion into a struggle between countries on multiple sides of a conflict posed a danger to their own security if ignored. This also served as a warning to all other guilds with major presences in multiple countries on the drawbacks of doing so. Especially for the ones with major presences in neighboring nations as they weighed their options and looked at the implications of how they would handle a war between said nations.
By the time day 129 had come to an end, Kate had been ecstatic by the state of things as she shared the early results of their efforts in real time. Rather than being upset about the fact that FAE had called in so many guilds to force back Abysses End, most guilds and players were seeing it as a brilliant idea. After all, no partners in the agreement had lost anything significant as Kate and Taya had included outs that allowed for fines to simply be paid if abiding by the contract would violate another contract. These fees would be determined by the number of losses sustained by FAE and those who did respond to that call for aid and divided among all parties equally. Suddenly small and large guilds with a significant portion of their funds tied up in trade were copying this model and working to implement it.
Xeal wondered just what the result of this would be as it was almost guaranteed that it would simply be turned into a giant mess. He expected it to reach a point where everyone was unable to make any aggressive moves for fear of the coalition that would be created to oppose them through such deals. In turn, this would create a situation where conflict arose behind the scenes and eventually, like a house of cards, it would fall when the first true conflict of interests arose from within. Xeal had seen similar results come from such deals in his last life and knew that the clock had started on even the one FAE had established falling apart due to such issues. Still, he had no issues taking advantage of being the first guild to establish such an organization while it lasted.
When it was finally time for Xeal to log out for his break, he just smiled at the constant requests that he had received from Abysses End for a meeting after Zylah carried out the first assassination. Poor Saul had been killed while on his way to meet with an important noble of Vefreora. Apparently only his head and a note arrived, stating that by Duke Xeal Bluefire’s order, Saul had been killed and that he must die at least four more times in the next 20 days, else said noble would bear the responsibility instead. It left it vague just how said noble would pay, but the context was such that it could be anything from his own life to the lives of those he held dear. Additionally, it had included instructions that if they wished to allow him to take his own life, that it needed to be as public and humiliating as possible. This had been followed by four different scenarios for him to act out and how the body was to be treated once the deed was done and forbade any revival techniques.
Unfortunately, Xeal knew that refusing to even meet with them would result in issues that he would rather avoid dealing with. So, he had agreed to hear their complaints during his next logout, assuming that they would agree to have their guild leader handle it directly. With that not so fun experience to look forward to, Xeal smiled as he logged off for the night after enjoying a few moments of just being with his family in ED.
(*****)
Morning April 29 to Evening May 3, 2268 & ED Year 6 Days 130-144.
As Alex made his way to the conference room with Kate and Tara in tow while everyone else made their way to the morning kendo lesson, he couldn’t help but sigh. Once more Jacob had handled all of the setup to ensure that the call was a single button away and would be secure on their end at the very least. As much as Alex was dreading this meeting, he could tell that Kate was actually looking forward to it from the look of smug satisfaction that had been on her face since she stepped out of her VR pod. When he had asked her what she was looking forward to, she just smiled and told him not to worry as they left the others and met Tara at the elevator.
Once they were all seated, it didn’t take long for Jacob to establish the call as the hologram of Dommik Aimes, or Leo Dangrareth in ED, appeared in front of them. The guild leader of Abysses End wore a frown as he looked at what must have been the three of them sitting together on his own holo display. Alex just waited for the middle-aged man to open the discussion as he wasn’t in the mood to waste any courtesies on the likes of him. After what was a long awkward pause, Dommik spoke in what was clearly an annoyed tone.
“You could at least act like you had even the slightest intent on being civil during this discussion.”
“Sorry, but I think we are long past such a stage,” retorted Alex. “How’s Nantan by the way? Things just haven’t been the same since all of that went down, though I must thank him and you for introducing me to Ava and Mia.”
“See, not everything that we have done to you has been unwelcome. Congratulations on the four new little ones by the way. I must say that you certainly have been busy and from what I know, you are just getting started on the whole family front of things. I am also glad that it seems that you don’t simply hate Abysses End, but any that would seek to control you from how you have dealt with Fire Oath and the Astor family. Now, let’s see if we can’t figure something out before things reach a point such that mutually assured destruction is the only option.”
At that Kate stifled a laugh before she responded to Dommik’s words in a light-hearted tone.
“It seems that Abysses End still believes it has the capacity to force us into such a situation. Dommik, you and I both know that you are annoyed at having to be here after FAE paid to send your guild a message by killing Gabriel Trevils’s character, Saul. The fact that he targeted a member of Abysses End whose only true value to your guild is his wallet and not you is already us showing restraint. Does it look bad for your organization? Yes, but trust me when I say that if you would like we could shift that target to you, or any other members of Abysses End rather easily.”
“I am aware. It is why I am only getting you to drop the humiliation factor in the note they left-”
“We had nothing to do with that,” interrupted Alex. “It can be tricky when dealing with those who hold more power than oneself and I am sorry, but that is just part of the personality of the assassin that we were able to hire. All we told them was to ensure that your guild couldn’t hide the fact that Saul died all five times. The rest was left up to their discretion and if I were you, well, I will refrain from giving you advice that I wouldn’t follow myself.”
“So, there is really nothing to discuss here is there,” grumbled Dommik. “Our relationship has reached the point where there is nothing to lose by targeting individuals for assassination that serve no purpose but to humiliate the other.”
“Please, there is still much to lose on both of our sides,” commented Kate. “Saul is nothing but a warning. We are at war and it is likely that both of us will find ourselves over extended before it ends and collateral damage is inevitable, but certain lines should not be crossed. One of those you have already done, by directly aiding both Habia and Paidhia, despite them being at war with each other. It is why Nium declaring war on you was so effective and it’s why you are going to find Abysses End is seen as nothing but mercenaries. Whether or not you can fix that perception is your own issue.”
“How is this still at the level of a warning?” retorted Dommik. “You are working to remove us from over 30 countries!”
“All we are doing is what you attempted to do to us,” countered Alex. “Though you’re right that isn’t a warning, it’s war. Us targeting Saul is the warning that FAE can easily play the assassination game and I invite you to do everything you can to avoid the next four strikes on Saul, outside of him not logging in.”
“So, shall I start targeting your wives and children then?”
“Dommik Aimes, you are free to do whatever you think Abysses End can handle and thinks is in its best interest,” replied Alex in a voice filled with malice. “Just know that there are certain actions that will result in results far worse than Abysses End’s dissolvement for those involved. I mean, my grudge will mostly end once Abysses End is no more.”
“Dangerous things, grudges, they can take us to places that we should never venture. You may even say that yours is the whole reason that we are attacking you now,” responded Dommik. “I mean, you could have easily avoided much of this by simply including us in the deal that you made with the other super guilds regarding the dragonoid slots.”
“Perhaps,” commented Tara breaking her silence. “But then it would have looked like FAE was just another doormat to the super guilds. Sorry, but I doubt any of our members want us to follow in the footsteps of Eternal Valhalla and become nothing but the super guilds’ new piggy bank.”
Alex could tell that Dommik wasn’t pleased that Tara was even present as he responded to her in a condescending tone.
“And who do I have the pleasure of addressing as your guild leader failed to allow for introductions and I simply assumed that you were a secretary who was here to take notes.”
“Tara, though you most likely know me as Taya and I assure you, the only one who needs to be taking notes is you. After all, I am sure that you will soon forget the lessons that we try to teach you every time you attack us and you wind up on the losing side of the exchange.”
“Interesting. You say that, but why has FAE not come and finished us off if that is the case? I would think that if you keep having to teach us lessons that you would have just taken care of the problem once and for all.”
“It’s not worth the cost,” retorted Alex. “Sorry, Dommik, but on my list of problems, you and Abysses End don’t even make my top ten. No, while I could see your guild reduced to a state that makes Jingong seem intact, it would cost more than it’s worth. So be grateful and stop trying to volunteer to be the guild we destroy before another guild destroys us.”
